Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have a healthy relationship

As sports fans, it’s weird to hear about two heated rivals having friendly relationships off the playing field. But according to Peter King at TheMMQB.com, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning fit this category.

“I hope [Peyton Manning and I will be friends when I’m 7o years old]…Peyton has two brothers he’s really close to; I don’t have a brother. We’re competitors on the field, but there’s no reason we can’t be good friends off it… Manning always knows how to act, what to say, how to represent the game right way. That’s how I want to be.”

Brady implying that he and Manning have a relationship similar to a brotherhood is surely eye-opening to fans of each quarterback who have likely grown to hate the other as a result of their rivalry; after all, Manning and Brady have been the two most dominant quarterbacks of the past twelve years. While impassioned fans probably don’t like to see their quarterback fraternizing with the “enemy,” the type of relationship these two have where they can go all-out against each other yet still maintain a friendship is rare and good for the game of football because it makes both of them better.

This type of relationship is one we could see develop between Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III, and Colin Kaepernick, (Wilson and Kaepernick have already struck up a bond) who all are in the NFC and at least two of which will likely face each other in the playoffs every year for seasons to come.

A little friendly competition never hurt anybody. Brady and Manning made the AFC playoffs intriguing every year for the past 10+, and the up-and-coming quarterbacks look poised to do this in the NFC also.

Just keep in mind that for some players it is important to them that they don’t sacrifice relationships over a game.